Ford has announced that it has produced the five millionth vehicle to use the Sync system. Sync is the result of a collaboration between Ford and Microsoft aimed at bringing voice control to vehicles. The Sync system has been in use in various Ford vehicles over the last five years and was first unveiled at CES in 2007.

“SYNC has helped us evolve as an automaker, to think and act more like a technology company, with a new level of openness and access that has forever changed how we look at our business and respond to our customers,” said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and vice president, Ford Research and Innovation. “Ultimately, SYNC embodies what Ford is all about: going further to transform innovative ideas into products that are affordable, attainable and valuable to millions of people.”

Ford and Microsoft began collaboration in 2005 as they worked to integrate mobile technology into vehicles. Sync is an architecture that is based on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform and takes advantage of open protocols including USB and Bluetooth. The development of the system using open protocols allows for just about any smart device out there to be used with the Sync system.

Today Sync supports multiple smartphone platforms, including Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and iOS. The platform has also been expanded to allow voice control over apps running on smartphones and a lot more.

“We’ve worked with Ford on SYNC right from the start,” said Kevin Dallas, general manager of Windows Embedded, Microsoft Corp. “Taking a platform approach enabled us to move quickly and deliver an innovative solution unlike any in the industry while providing us the flexibility to continue to deliver new features and improvements to Ford customers.”

Beenthere appears to be living proof why first cousins should never marry...

Sync is a system for operating the auxiliary controls of your car (i.e. phone, nav, HVAC, radio) WITHOUT TAKING YOUR HANDS OR EYES FROM THE ROAD .

his fool is mistaking it for MyFordTouch which is very distracting - especially if you have version with that monster 8" color LCD touchscreen in the middle of your console stack.

Sync is a voice recognition interface to MyFordTouch to enable you to use it without taking your attention from the road. In fact Ford stresses that you should use voice control whenever possible to control these things rather than go poking around on the MFT screen.

Ford's hearts and minds are in the right place, but to be brutally honest Sync could use a lot of help. It's voice recognition is pretty spotty if your accent is not clear, robotic and you don't practically shout at it.